Cardinal John Krol; Key Church Leader

Cardinal John Krol, a leading Roman Catholic conservative who spoke out for nuclear disarmament and helped to reorder Vatican finances, died here Sunday. He was 85.

Krol, who had diabetes and a heart condition and had suffered a broken hip, was hospitalized last month. But he asked to return home Saturday when he failed to respond to treatment.

“His wishes were answered. He is now home,” said Joseph F. Majdan, the cardinal’s physician and a longtime friend.

A onetime butcher in his native Cleveland who liked to shoot pool during lunch breaks before he became a priest, Krol had served as cardinal longer than any other living American.

He was elevated to cardinal on June 26, 1967, along with Karol Wojtyla, who later became Pope John Paul II. Krol, the son of Polish immigrants, was regarded as instrumental in behind-the-scenes church politics leading to the election that elevated the Polish cardinal to pope in October 1978.

He remained a close ally and friend of the pope’s and was highly regarded as an administrator who kept archdiocesan finances sound while the Vatican swam in red ink.

He was involved in internal reviews of Vatican financial matters and in 1985 was one of three co-presidents of a special meeting of bishops to review the condition of the church 20 years after the reforms of Vatican II.

At home, he exerted his influence to fight communism, abortion and what he saw as the erosion of morality. He supported government aid to parochial schools and prayer in public schools.

A strict disciplinarian, Krol refused for years to allow Catholics in Philadelphia to satisfy their Sunday obligation by attending Mass on Saturday evening, only relenting in 1983 when a new Code of Canon Law was adopted.

Krol often sharply criticized U.S. nuclear defense policies.

“Not only the use of strategic nuclear weapons, but also the declared intent to use them involved in our deterrence policy is wrong,” he testified in 1979 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “This explains the Catholic dissatisfaction with nuclear deterrence and the urgency of the Catholic demand that the nuclear arms race be reversed.”

He came to the clergy after a Lutheran co-worker at a grocery store asked him questions of faith that he could not answer. After he searched through theology books and found more questions than answers, he felt called to the ministry.

The Rev. Daniel E. Mackle told worshipers Sunday that Krol’s leadership continued despite his failing health. (As his health problems grew worse, he had to quit smoking his beloved cigars, but he still carried them to chew on.)

“He showed us that God would always give us the grace and strength no matter what He put in our way,” Mackle said.